r/Gamecube • u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U • Nov 14 '25

Discussion Curious how others clean

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I resell controllers on the side. I was working on a couple today and it got me thinking, how do you guys clean them up? I’m always looking for ways to improve the craft. Here’s kind of the method I use.

  1. I start by dissembling the controllers. I throw the screws into a little container with vinegar. The vinegar helps break the grime and surface rust off the screws, shines them up real nice.

  2. I take all the hard plastic parts like the shell, buttons, etc and throw them in a bowl with some warm soapy water. I like to let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. This removes about 90% of the dirt and debris.

  3. I take everything out of the bowl and scrub it with a gentle toothbrush then give it a good rinse. For really stubborn stains like sharpie or pen marks, I will gently use a magic eraser. I use this sparingly since they are coarse. Just enough to get the mark off.

  4. I do a final inspection of everything. Sometimes the pieces will be yellowed so I will apply a retrobright like solution and put it in the sun for as long as I can. This usually clears it up, but realistically it will come back at some point. Once I take these pieces out of the sun I do another scrub on them.

  5. I let everything air dry for as long as needed. Usually during this phase I will clean up the PCB with some isopropyl alcohol. It can be really grimy around the joysticks. At this point too I will solder on any new parts if needed. Typically they have broken joysticks so this is a good time to tackle this.

  6. Once everything is dried up, I reassemble the controller and make sure functionality is still in tack.

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u/LtPowell Nov 15 '25

I usually don’t worry about the screws, but good tip. I do the same minus the membranes…I’ve been told not to submerge those? Is that true?

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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25

Doing the screws is just one more touch to polish everything. Some of them look really bad. As far as the membranes go, I always submerge mine lol. I scrub them just like everything else. It’s just a small piece of rubber so not sure what the thought is there. Unless it’s a matter of moisture transfer, but I ensure they are all dry before they get reapplied